Dan - I recognize a comrade afflicted with "That light at the end of the tunnel is a freight train" tendencies when I read one. I was pleasantly surprised to see you close with "cautiously hopeful"! Just send out something when you move from "cautiously" to "pretty hopeful"! That'll be good enough for faithful readers I suspect. It sure seems like there's been a number of positive signs these past few days. Hopefully the universe is just not toying with us.
Well, it’s Florida, so I saved mowing the lawn for today, as it gets my mind off politics.
Tonight my plan is to watch returns with my wife. Watch Harris win the popular vote by 5 million and go north of 312 electoral votes. Strong enough that the election results are known tonight.
I'm spending Election day teaching, getting a massage, and soaking at the local hot springs resort. Even if we win, we have real work to do to ensure that abortion healthcare is restored and improved, that the war on Gaza is ended, and voting rights are restored and enshrined. Rest up, friends. We are almost there.
Just a note, results in MI will start showing up at 9 pm ET because we have that one little piece of the UP in the central time zone so that polling center doesn't close til 9 ET. (Praying and working as a precinct worker in Lansing today.)
Also spent Friday & Saturday in Wayne County. They've voted, or are planning on voting. Positive sentiment for Elissa Slotkin, as well. Dems in Wayne County want opportunity, public services (including healthcare) to be funded and to be functional, & clean water.
Spent previous weekend in Crawford County. Rural, to the north. Lots of Harris signs in Grayling abd again, good Slotkin support. (She's a great candidate for Michigan. Pragmatic, she's served, etc.) Good signs that Harris & Slotkin will get soft Republicans in rural areas and offset some losses in metro areas.
Also watch Kent County, home of Gerald Ford Freeway & the Dutch Reform. It's getting bluer every two years and MAGA over there are losing their gdamn mind. 😂🙏🏼
Thank you for the readouts, for all your hard work, and also for the reminder re that piece of the UP (I’ve been there btw, beautiful part of the country).
My heart is just broken. Didn't sleep last night. Hate, fear, racism, misogyny and billionaires' money triumphed. I'm not sure what else Dems could have done here in MI. I honestly don't know.
Gonna rename this one, Here's my schedule for freaking out throughout the evening before passing out in a haze of anxiety and exhaustion.
I didn't sleep well last night, we got a puppy that slept well the first night but last night seemed to pick up on my mounting anxiety.
This morning, we handed the puppy to my eldest and my wife and I went down the hill to our polling place. It's a cloudy morning, the sun's light blanketing the area in flat light. But as we drove down the hill, off on the horizon, the bright fall colors of the tree covered mountains were bathed in sunlight. Hope that's a good sign that our 9 year ordeal ends tonight.
Based on the inspiring positive momentum and America for all message Kamala Harris has infused in her campaign, I'm confident she will win the popular vote and the EC while Trump increasingly looks like a train wreck heading for the dust bin of history. My week of positive calls in N. Carolina reinforced that belief. As many analytics guys are pointing out, early voting trends look favorable for us but the effort to understand by how much is quite foggy.
Winning BIG today and Weds is WAR I and we'll win. The larger the margin in the popular vote the better.
However, we all need to brace for WAR II. Trump and MAGA's response to a second loss may be loud, legalistic and potentially violent. What individual citizens or the totality of the grassroots movement can do to fight WAR II is not clear to me.
For starters, I'm thankful that Joe Biden will be POTUS until Jan 20 and commander in chief of our military should we need it.
I'm also thankful the DOJ works under a Democratic administration this time around.
After that, we must be prepared to stand up for our 250 year democracy and our tradition of free and fair elections. It's been a long battle. Getting our grievance driven fellow MAGA Americans to return to our democratic heritage is the next battle we must win.
Dan. This is terrific advice.Thank you thank you! And friends with the flutter of anxiety,.... Take Heart. Michael Moore who was the ONLY one who predicted Trump's win in 2016 has declared that " Trump is Toast" this time around. He keeps his ear to the ground of the average American. Today he posted a "Dear John" letter to Donald. It's classic Michael Moore but it's an entertaining summary of many of the reasons why we are in such good shape. Find it on his Substack and enjoy. I recommend for an over coffee uplift. Meanwhile "Keep Kamala and Carry-on-ala!"!!! I'm working at the polls today. So excited.
N.H. voter here. Pay no attention to the dozen voters in Dixville Notch. The entire area is Trump Central. That Trump didn't get all 12 votes is good news.
Many thx, Dan!! And also thanks to this whole community. I am truly hopeful but also anxious. Of course, I cannot wait to get beyond the orange man soon enough. But I am also genuinely excited for Kamala and the USA finally electing its first woman president!
Specifically in Indiana watch Hamilton County. And in Kentucky, watch Fayette. Two highly college educated, high income suburbs. Hamilton has shifted 27 points to the left since 2012. Fayette has shifted about 20 points to the left since then.
Thanks for the game plan, Dan! I’ll be ballot clerking here in Peterborough New Hampshire ( we are pretty Blue inn this town but it’s a purple state ) until after the polls close and all the write ✍️ ins are counted. I’m looking forward to the FIRST Woman President of the United States and hopefully a blue swing in our currently gerrymandered red state legislature.💪🗽💪
Still in disbelief. Is this really our country now? Algorithms and propaganda have done more damage than anyone realized. If a candidate as strong as Harris couldn't beat Trump, then maybe nobody could. Democracy is a fragile thing.
If it's any consolation, remember that there are forces at work here that were bigger than any of us. We cannot control the broad sweep of history in which we find ourselves. All we can control is how we treat the people we care about. What we choose to do each day at the local level. Because let me tell you, if this result is any indication, what happens nationally isn't in our hands. Not really. We have real impact in our local communities, though. I'm not ready to abandon this country. Not untill they start building camps. And I'm not sure they are competent enough to organize such a thing.
Love you, Crooked family, and love to my fellow liberals. Sometimes evil wins. And somehow, life goes on.
Hope and courage. The only options now. I am keeping Calmala; and rooting for Kamala. The consequence could be that we begin to chart our path to a truly multiracial democracy tonight. Let it be so.
Well everyone....win or lose it's been great having a place to come to share our collective anxiety. Good luck to all of us!
Dan - I recognize a comrade afflicted with "That light at the end of the tunnel is a freight train" tendencies when I read one. I was pleasantly surprised to see you close with "cautiously hopeful"! Just send out something when you move from "cautiously" to "pretty hopeful"! That'll be good enough for faithful readers I suspect. It sure seems like there's been a number of positive signs these past few days. Hopefully the universe is just not toying with us.
Just hopeful would be good enough for me.
Well, it’s Florida, so I saved mowing the lawn for today, as it gets my mind off politics.
Tonight my plan is to watch returns with my wife. Watch Harris win the popular vote by 5 million and go north of 312 electoral votes. Strong enough that the election results are known tonight.
That’s the plan, anyway.
I don't have a lawn to mow anymore. I have contractors dropping by leaving estimates.
Thanks Dan!! Let's GOTV and finally start to rid ourselves of the dirty old man. ❤️🤍💙
Amen!
A field report …. This is my polling place at 7:43 am Chicago time. I have NEVER seen a line out the door like this
That’s good to hear!
I'm spending Election day teaching, getting a massage, and soaking at the local hot springs resort. Even if we win, we have real work to do to ensure that abortion healthcare is restored and improved, that the war on Gaza is ended, and voting rights are restored and enshrined. Rest up, friends. We are almost there.
Just a note, results in MI will start showing up at 9 pm ET because we have that one little piece of the UP in the central time zone so that polling center doesn't close til 9 ET. (Praying and working as a precinct worker in Lansing today.)
Also spent Friday & Saturday in Wayne County. They've voted, or are planning on voting. Positive sentiment for Elissa Slotkin, as well. Dems in Wayne County want opportunity, public services (including healthcare) to be funded and to be functional, & clean water.
Spent previous weekend in Crawford County. Rural, to the north. Lots of Harris signs in Grayling abd again, good Slotkin support. (She's a great candidate for Michigan. Pragmatic, she's served, etc.) Good signs that Harris & Slotkin will get soft Republicans in rural areas and offset some losses in metro areas.
Also watch Kent County, home of Gerald Ford Freeway & the Dutch Reform. It's getting bluer every two years and MAGA over there are losing their gdamn mind. 😂🙏🏼
Thank you for the readouts, for all your hard work, and also for the reminder re that piece of the UP (I’ve been there btw, beautiful part of the country).
I've been there too! Almost as lovely as the Adirondacks. Almost. Lake Superior is awesome.
My heart is just broken. Didn't sleep last night. Hate, fear, racism, misogyny and billionaires' money triumphed. I'm not sure what else Dems could have done here in MI. I honestly don't know.
Gonna rename this one, Here's my schedule for freaking out throughout the evening before passing out in a haze of anxiety and exhaustion.
I didn't sleep well last night, we got a puppy that slept well the first night but last night seemed to pick up on my mounting anxiety.
This morning, we handed the puppy to my eldest and my wife and I went down the hill to our polling place. It's a cloudy morning, the sun's light blanketing the area in flat light. But as we drove down the hill, off on the horizon, the bright fall colors of the tree covered mountains were bathed in sunlight. Hope that's a good sign that our 9 year ordeal ends tonight.
TWO WARS TO WIN:
Based on the inspiring positive momentum and America for all message Kamala Harris has infused in her campaign, I'm confident she will win the popular vote and the EC while Trump increasingly looks like a train wreck heading for the dust bin of history. My week of positive calls in N. Carolina reinforced that belief. As many analytics guys are pointing out, early voting trends look favorable for us but the effort to understand by how much is quite foggy.
Winning BIG today and Weds is WAR I and we'll win. The larger the margin in the popular vote the better.
However, we all need to brace for WAR II. Trump and MAGA's response to a second loss may be loud, legalistic and potentially violent. What individual citizens or the totality of the grassroots movement can do to fight WAR II is not clear to me.
For starters, I'm thankful that Joe Biden will be POTUS until Jan 20 and commander in chief of our military should we need it.
I'm also thankful the DOJ works under a Democratic administration this time around.
After that, we must be prepared to stand up for our 250 year democracy and our tradition of free and fair elections. It's been a long battle. Getting our grievance driven fellow MAGA Americans to return to our democratic heritage is the next battle we must win.
WAR III is if the R's take the Senate and/or hold the House.
Dan. This is terrific advice.Thank you thank you! And friends with the flutter of anxiety,.... Take Heart. Michael Moore who was the ONLY one who predicted Trump's win in 2016 has declared that " Trump is Toast" this time around. He keeps his ear to the ground of the average American. Today he posted a "Dear John" letter to Donald. It's classic Michael Moore but it's an entertaining summary of many of the reasons why we are in such good shape. Find it on his Substack and enjoy. I recommend for an over coffee uplift. Meanwhile "Keep Kamala and Carry-on-ala!"!!! I'm working at the polls today. So excited.
Thank you! Will read.
Thanks Dan! I will admit, I found myself getting ridiculously upset by the result in Dixville Notch, NH! 🤦♀️
N.H. voter here. Pay no attention to the dozen voters in Dixville Notch. The entire area is Trump Central. That Trump didn't get all 12 votes is good news.
When I saw that my first thought was this was evidence they get together and game their votes.
I was thinking the same thing. If there were only 6 voters, i can’t imagine that there wasn’t some “collusion”
Many thx, Dan!! And also thanks to this whole community. I am truly hopeful but also anxious. Of course, I cannot wait to get beyond the orange man soon enough. But I am also genuinely excited for Kamala and the USA finally electing its first woman president!
Specifically in Indiana watch Hamilton County. And in Kentucky, watch Fayette. Two highly college educated, high income suburbs. Hamilton has shifted 27 points to the left since 2012. Fayette has shifted about 20 points to the left since then.
Thanks for the game plan, Dan! I’ll be ballot clerking here in Peterborough New Hampshire ( we are pretty Blue inn this town but it’s a purple state ) until after the polls close and all the write ✍️ ins are counted. I’m looking forward to the FIRST Woman President of the United States and hopefully a blue swing in our currently gerrymandered red state legislature.💪🗽💪
Still in disbelief. Is this really our country now? Algorithms and propaganda have done more damage than anyone realized. If a candidate as strong as Harris couldn't beat Trump, then maybe nobody could. Democracy is a fragile thing.
If it's any consolation, remember that there are forces at work here that were bigger than any of us. We cannot control the broad sweep of history in which we find ourselves. All we can control is how we treat the people we care about. What we choose to do each day at the local level. Because let me tell you, if this result is any indication, what happens nationally isn't in our hands. Not really. We have real impact in our local communities, though. I'm not ready to abandon this country. Not untill they start building camps. And I'm not sure they are competent enough to organize such a thing.
Love you, Crooked family, and love to my fellow liberals. Sometimes evil wins. And somehow, life goes on.
Hope and courage. The only options now. I am keeping Calmala; and rooting for Kamala. The consequence could be that we begin to chart our path to a truly multiracial democracy tonight. Let it be so.